In which a tunnel is found under Blackhorn Mountain
After an enjoyable and invigorating night’s sleep, we set off once more. Following the instructions from Karstia, we followed the mountain path upward until we came to a large rock that appeared to have been struck by lightning. Or something. It was quite definitely split anyway, and what we had been told to look for.
The path was overgrown and covered, but we were able to carefully make our way through (walking the horses). As the ranger of the group, and in my professional habitat (ie The Outdoors), I was of course the first to spot the spider webs. Giant spider webs. Covering what we thought to be the entrance to the tunnel.
At this point I sent Tremorian forward to clear the webs away. He is, after all, the biggest here physically, and the one most able to survive a poisonous spider bite. Not that I was necessarily expecting that to happen, however it does not hurt to be prudent.
I saw a big spider through the entrance as Tremorian cleared the webbing. It moved back out of sight, and at that point we decided to set a torch to the web and let it catch fire. This went out after a while, and we were able to move into the tunnel entrance.
After a quick discussion we decided to leave the horses for now, and clear our way further in. Which was a Wise Decision Indeed - after about 50 feet the web reappeared, and we were attacked by two giant spiders.
One was killed quite quickly, the other gooped me and I was unable to assister further after that point. However once we were victorious I was able to attempt my newly learnt spell of healing, by calling upon the divine power of Reann. And I was able to heal Tremorian’s injuries. I will never be as good at this as Dareama, but it will be useful to have another who can heal with divine power in the group (Thymhe can also perform the same invocation as I). At the very least, we can use this power to ensure that Dareama continues to enjoy good health, for if she should fall it would be very grave for the rest of us. Not to mention it would probably suck for her too.
We continued our way a little further, and found what looked to be an old nest of these spiders. There were dessicated creatures in then webs - smaller than humans, and like horses but not quite the same.
It was at this point that Dareama, having studied the spidersilk for some time, announced that she wanted us to collect as much of it as possible, rather than burn it. This is because she feels it is extremely strong and would possible make good garments for her, similar to some kind of armoured vest. I have vague memories of hearing about silk armour in the past, but surely it is from (the much safer) silk worms, rather than from giant spiders?
Oh well, if we have to kill the spiders anyway, that is fine. She can collect the silk herself afterwards. But I’m not going to go out of my way to find spiders just so she can gather more silk.
And so we went back to the entrance and collected our horses, and pressed forward past the nest area. There were no more webs, but there was quite a bit of dust and a lot of footprints - small, humanoid, booted. I guess that is just something else we have to look forward to.
After travelling for some time, we decided it was time to make camp. Three watches were allocated, and after agreeing to last watch I was happy to rest for a while.
The path was overgrown and covered, but we were able to carefully make our way through (walking the horses). As the ranger of the group, and in my professional habitat (ie The Outdoors), I was of course the first to spot the spider webs. Giant spider webs. Covering what we thought to be the entrance to the tunnel.
At this point I sent Tremorian forward to clear the webs away. He is, after all, the biggest here physically, and the one most able to survive a poisonous spider bite. Not that I was necessarily expecting that to happen, however it does not hurt to be prudent.
I saw a big spider through the entrance as Tremorian cleared the webbing. It moved back out of sight, and at that point we decided to set a torch to the web and let it catch fire. This went out after a while, and we were able to move into the tunnel entrance.
After a quick discussion we decided to leave the horses for now, and clear our way further in. Which was a Wise Decision Indeed - after about 50 feet the web reappeared, and we were attacked by two giant spiders.
One was killed quite quickly, the other gooped me and I was unable to assister further after that point. However once we were victorious I was able to attempt my newly learnt spell of healing, by calling upon the divine power of Reann. And I was able to heal Tremorian’s injuries. I will never be as good at this as Dareama, but it will be useful to have another who can heal with divine power in the group (Thymhe can also perform the same invocation as I). At the very least, we can use this power to ensure that Dareama continues to enjoy good health, for if she should fall it would be very grave for the rest of us. Not to mention it would probably suck for her too.
We continued our way a little further, and found what looked to be an old nest of these spiders. There were dessicated creatures in then webs - smaller than humans, and like horses but not quite the same.
It was at this point that Dareama, having studied the spidersilk for some time, announced that she wanted us to collect as much of it as possible, rather than burn it. This is because she feels it is extremely strong and would possible make good garments for her, similar to some kind of armoured vest. I have vague memories of hearing about silk armour in the past, but surely it is from (the much safer) silk worms, rather than from giant spiders?
Oh well, if we have to kill the spiders anyway, that is fine. She can collect the silk herself afterwards. But I’m not going to go out of my way to find spiders just so she can gather more silk.
And so we went back to the entrance and collected our horses, and pressed forward past the nest area. There were no more webs, but there was quite a bit of dust and a lot of footprints - small, humanoid, booted. I guess that is just something else we have to look forward to.
After travelling for some time, we decided it was time to make camp. Three watches were allocated, and after agreeing to last watch I was happy to rest for a while.